Films in the Blaxploitation genre can have unusual or common themes central to their plots. But often, and with the best of them, they usually nod at issues that are traditional elements of African American societies. These are different from usual exploitation films, which tend to be very derogatory about its subjects.
One film could have gotten to a level that would have been a cut above the best of these epics. This was the 1972 movie Trick Baby, based on an eponymous novel by the author Iceberg Slim, then a leading light in black writing. Whereas the novel is an intense tale of the underworld, the film wasted the potential by being, as one critic put it, watered down.
The movie is about the relationship between two black male con men who are planning their biggest con. These are Blue Howard and White Folks, hustlers working in Philadelphia, the latter being half white and therefore could pass for a white man. This is central to all their cons, and also their ace in the con that they are planning.
Of course racial dynamics propel the plot here, and these are mostly a given from a novel that was based on the real experiences of author Slim, a former pimp before he made bestselling novelist in the African American writing genre. These are delineated well enough in this film, although black men themselves who watched the central role of Folks were let down. Again, there was a lack of intensity and nothing of masculinity present in a half white character.
Folks is a product of the mating of a white man and a black prostitute, and so it became the title. It is an accident that is a focus in both works, but critics said that the book was very intense while the feature was not quite there. But then the production just went with the need for Hollywood products to work with easier subjects for film.
With this item, it can be seen how the film may explain its ignoring the most relevant issues related to a biracial criminal. Because of this, all that the film became was one more cliched item in the litany of themes on black crimes. The relationship between both protagonists became a buddy thing, making this movie a feel good one with nothing to say about realities on the ground but everything to gain in box office.
Films from Hollywood will tend to be dehumanizing, concentrating more on great visuals than focusing on the story elements. This defect is something that is still present, and so whatever films there are that are found meritorious in a story sense will not end up successful, in comparison to those that tend to con people.
The plan hatched by the conspirators is complicated by a former crime that involved a Mafia relative. This final nod to the cliche film ending is something that will turn a critics stomach, and this is perhaps the gamble. Perhaps the real point behind this work is the bid to become an impactful sensation.
Thus, director Larry Yust thought it best to soften blows made by the story itself to be more acceptable to the general public. This is one organism that has an oh so sensitive stomach while allowing blasphemy to be its constant companion. And black experience is too much of a punch in the gut that it needs watering down.
One film could have gotten to a level that would have been a cut above the best of these epics. This was the 1972 movie Trick Baby, based on an eponymous novel by the author Iceberg Slim, then a leading light in black writing. Whereas the novel is an intense tale of the underworld, the film wasted the potential by being, as one critic put it, watered down.
The movie is about the relationship between two black male con men who are planning their biggest con. These are Blue Howard and White Folks, hustlers working in Philadelphia, the latter being half white and therefore could pass for a white man. This is central to all their cons, and also their ace in the con that they are planning.
Of course racial dynamics propel the plot here, and these are mostly a given from a novel that was based on the real experiences of author Slim, a former pimp before he made bestselling novelist in the African American writing genre. These are delineated well enough in this film, although black men themselves who watched the central role of Folks were let down. Again, there was a lack of intensity and nothing of masculinity present in a half white character.
Folks is a product of the mating of a white man and a black prostitute, and so it became the title. It is an accident that is a focus in both works, but critics said that the book was very intense while the feature was not quite there. But then the production just went with the need for Hollywood products to work with easier subjects for film.
With this item, it can be seen how the film may explain its ignoring the most relevant issues related to a biracial criminal. Because of this, all that the film became was one more cliched item in the litany of themes on black crimes. The relationship between both protagonists became a buddy thing, making this movie a feel good one with nothing to say about realities on the ground but everything to gain in box office.
Films from Hollywood will tend to be dehumanizing, concentrating more on great visuals than focusing on the story elements. This defect is something that is still present, and so whatever films there are that are found meritorious in a story sense will not end up successful, in comparison to those that tend to con people.
The plan hatched by the conspirators is complicated by a former crime that involved a Mafia relative. This final nod to the cliche film ending is something that will turn a critics stomach, and this is perhaps the gamble. Perhaps the real point behind this work is the bid to become an impactful sensation.
Thus, director Larry Yust thought it best to soften blows made by the story itself to be more acceptable to the general public. This is one organism that has an oh so sensitive stomach while allowing blasphemy to be its constant companion. And black experience is too much of a punch in the gut that it needs watering down.
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